How we practice rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000

Round 65 to the nearest ten. Half the class says 60, because 6 is in the tens place and that feels like it must be the answer. Rounding looks trivial to an adult and turns out to have three decisions inside it: which digit to look at, which neighbor is closer, and what to do on a tie.

What the sheet looks like

The rounding worksheet generator prints a list of numbers with a blank after each. You choose nearest 10 for second and third grade, nearest 100 for third, nearest 1,000 for third and fourth, or mixed, where each line says what to round to. There are 12, 16 or 20 problems to a page. The option I use most is the rule box: tick it and the rounding rule plus a few worked examples in the sheet's own range print at the top. Every number is a real rounding decision; nothing on the page is already a multiple of the target.

Why it works

• With the rule box on, a child working alone can check what to do instead of calling across the room.
• Ties like 65 and 250 are included, and the rule on the sheet is the standard grade-school one: round up.
• Mixed mode is the real test. Deciding which digit to look at is the skill; the actual rounding is easy once that choice is made.

Who it suits

Second graders stay on nearest 10 with the rule box on. Fourth graders can take mixed with the box off. Rounding only makes sense once place value is solid, so if "which digit is the hundreds" gets a blank look, go back to the place value worksheet for a week first.

Then use it. Grocery totals, car mileage, anything with a number on it.